If you've ever scrolled through comments below any YouTube video, you've probably noticed the ones mentioning specific times or time spans. They often tip you off to funny or provocative moments in the clip.
New website YouTube RealTime brings that commentary front and center, letting you watch videos and simultaneously see every comment with a time reference as it plays.
"It's like watching a video in a chatroom full of people who are watching the video at the same time," creator Mark Lyons tells Mashable.
Lyons, a Pennsylvania high school junior, created YouTube RealTime in a week using YouTube's API.
"YouTube already links timestamps in comments so that they bring you to that point in the video, and that's a feature people already use," he says. "YouTube RealTime takes advantage of this so that you can see what people thought about a certain part of the video while you watch it."
For example, when you watch the Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" version featuring Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and Ashley Tisdale, you'll see a flurry of comments between the 2:30 and 2:34 mark when Bieber and Gomez close in for a kiss but are interrupted by Tisdale.
And when Bieber flexes his guns, this pops up: "2:38 Awwwww. Justin thinks he has muscles ... Thats cute!"
